Now that Spring Break, Easter and your birthday are behind us, it's time to get back to life lessons and well, my ramblings.
You don't know what you don't know. Let's take a moment and let that sink in. If you don't know anything about a story, how would you know to ask about a part of it. Or if you've never played a sport, how would you know what questions to ask about the rules or how it's played. For instance, I don't know anything about Rugby, so before I would go play it, I'd try and do some basic research on the topic and at least get a high level of understanding.
Now that probably sounds pretty obvious, I know. But you'll run across people all through your life that do this exact thing.
Now what a short post right, well no there is a second part to it. There are many topics I know enough to be dangerous, and I'm not just talking about firearms. You need to be smart about what you know also. I'm going to go back to sports for a moment. At a very young age (middle school) my father sat me down and told me, no matter how good you are at something, there is always someone better. Someone that wants it more. Has a bit more natural talent and is willing to put in a little bit of extra work... Well that applies to just about everyone except Michael Jordan (and I would now add Cristiano Ronaldo). Now at that age I took that at the level and context of sports and athletics.
Later in life I discovered, there is always someone with more money, or someone with a faster car, or someone who knows more about Star Wars or Harry Potter (or whatever you're going to be into). Someone smart, faster, funnier, better looking or whatever it is. Now once I realized and accepted this I came to also realize your daddy is a pretty good package deal... But that's not the point today.
Don't be that know it all person. Let it be someone else. Even if you know more than them, only insecure people have to constantly try to show others up. If you're an expert and someone is talking about whatever you're an expert in, and they're wrong and you know it. NICELY correct them. Explain why they are wrong (NICELY) and try to educate them in a way that doesn't embarrass them... And sometimes that means keeping your mouth shut and letting them look like the expert (unless it's a topic that could get someone hurt, then open your mouth).
So I have my own set of 'internal rules' or my code that I try and live my life by. I have another article on this which will be posted soon, but one of those is, on a topic I'm not an expert on, I keep my mouth shut unless I know, without a doubt, from research and valuable/reliable sources that I am right. I found it doesn't pay to go spouting off about something only to later find out social media had bad information on the topic.
But being asked my opinion... Well that's a different topic.